why now after all this time (JADE)

[Teddy Lupin]

Teddy stood behind the counter of Ollivander's feeling like he was missing something. It was his first day back after his little vacation - which was not needed, in his opinion - and he was more than ready to take on the work load. That being said, there actually wasn't a lot to do. Ollivander had done remarkably well all on his own, which Teddy didn't understand. That guy was, what, some three hundred years old and he still managed to run the place like he had since day one. If he ever blackmailed Teddy with his old age again, he wasn't taking him seriously.

But he really did wish there was a lot of work pending, simply because if he wasn't working, he was thinking. Overthinking, which had been proven time and again to be hazardous when done by Teddy Lupin's brain. Sighing, he folded Scorpius' latest letter and kept it in his pocket otherwise he'd forget to reply to it again. He'd just taken a step towards going to the back of the store, when the little bell rang signalling a customer.

Shutting his eyes in happiness, he turned around. "Hello. How may I -oh," he abruptly stopped, because the moment he opened his eyes, he came face to face with Jade, his ex girlfriend. He automatically winced. "Oh, hello, Jade. Can I help you?"

[Jade Pereira]

Normally, Jade would be in a terrible mood when she entered this particular shop, as it brought back memories she liked to keep hidden in the back of her mind flooding to the front of it and messing up her head. Seriously, Teddy Lupin didn't even need to do anything to screw with her head. He just had to exist and be in her close proximity. He was just that freaking good. But her wand had been broken for about three months now, and she'd been managing by Spellotaping and using it because she really didn't want to face her ex-boyfriend, especially not after she'd done such a good job at avoiding him for the past, what, nine months now? And now she'd heard he was on holiday, so more likely than not, she would find his boss Ollivander there at the counter.

Pushing open the door of the dingy little shop, she made her way in slowly, with the pieces of her wand in her hand wrapped up in a cloth. She looked up at the figure standing at the counter, and immediately something inside her recoiled. She'd learnt to avoid everything and everyone even remotely related to Teddy Lupin - of course it wasn't possible to avoid them entirely, but she tried - and being face-to-face with the idiot himself in a small, enclosed space was almost too much for her to take. Even she knew that she was being a bit of a drama queen (he'd probably never cared that much for her, anyway) but even after nine months, the fact that he hadn't even considered her worth a conversation and all he'd done was send an owl still hurt like a bitch.

And then there had been the meeting with Vic. They had sorted out most of their issues when they met, but their friendship would never be the same again. Both of them knew it. And though it wasn't Teddy's fault, she still felt inclined to blame him because he had always been the reason for whatever friction there was between her and Victoire. She really had to keep her cool. Tell him what needed to be done, then get out. As fast as possible. She looked up, her throat dry all of a sudden. "Hi," she said, the word catching in her throat as she said it. "I need this -" she unwrapped the pieces of the wand "-fixed. Could you do it? And please reach it to my shop, unless you can do it right now, in which case please do it right now." She had begun to talk very fast in her haste to get out of the shop.

[Teddy Lupin]

If there were any emotions which were rearing their ugly head in Teddy's mind right now, they were guilt and chagrin. He hated being a jerk to people and he'd been a huge one to Jade. He'd played on her feelings for him like a violin, just so that he didn't feel unloved. Now that he thought about it, it was shallow and low, and something completely out of character for him. He wasn't that sort of guy, how the hell did he land himself in such an awkward place? Trying to muster a polite smile - and succeeding with only a grimace - he focused on the broken wand pieces instead.

"Oh," he frowned, studying them. "I'm sorry, Jade, but that wand's pretty much useless now. No magic can fix a broken wand," he replied. Well, except Harry's but that wasn't a story for now, nor his place to tell. Shrugging apologetically he let her process the fact that she wasn't getting her wand back. A wand was, after all, like another extension of a witch or wizard and losing it after being with it a long time could certainly be a shock, even horrifying. He remember the first time he'd nearly lost his wand and he'd cried for an hour before finding it under his bed in his dormitory. And he'd only been in second year and had it for two years - Jade had probably had hers for much longer.

"I can - er, help you get another one?" he said, although it sounded more like a question to him. Merlin, why couldn't she have come in yesterday when he wasn't here; or why couldn't he have taken another day off and come back tomorrow? Now he really wished he was getting lectured by Scorpius instead of dealing with this. But being the good employee he was, he brought out the traveling ladder and started climbing up to a higher shelf to reach for some of the wand boxes; ones which he was sure were more likely to pick her.

[Jade Pereira]

Jade raised one of her eyebrows as she saw the expression on his face. He looked like he was disgusted by the very sight of her; well, who could blame him? She opened her mouth, ready to say something snarky about his expression when he said that her wand couldn't be fixed. For a minute, she was shocked - she'd thought it could be fixed easily enough. And well, it was her wand, the one she'd had for more than ten years now. So naturally being told that she couldn't use it anymore came as a shock to her. "Oh," was all she could muster up the ability to say.

Her first inclination was, again, to blame him. Then she stopped herself. It'd been her own stupidity that had led to this. Teddy was simply doing his job and there was really no reason to blame him. Why did she always have to act like a little kid around him? Even when they were dating, she'd realised, she'd acted like a kid - a little, giddy girl in her first relationship. And now she was blaming him for everything bad that happened to her, which was completely wrong, wasn't it? She didn't react to his next words, simply nodding as he told her that she needed a new wand - by now she'd learnt not to ever show any negative feelings in public - but her head was full of thoughts.

This meant she had to spend more time than she'd originally thought, alone with him. Great. Just freaking great. She sighed and slumped against the wall, looking down at her shoes as she waited for Teddy to come down. As she leaned back, she accidentally pushed over a pile of boxes that had been lying next to her. The pile toppled over and fell to the groud with a crash. "Oh, bollocks," she swore under her breath as she scrambled about trying to pick up the boxes and put them back in order. Hopefully she'd settle it all before Teddy could attempt to help her.

[Teddy Lupin]

Teddy sighed, as he climbed the ladder and started shifting boxes. "Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," he offered, as an apology towards her wand. He dealt with people like her quite often and usually had something consoling to say. But given the fact that she was his ex, he didn't think she wanted to hear it - so he opted for just a quick apology. He reached backwards toward the boxes a the back, as he pulled a couple out and blew the dust over them. "These should help, I think. We can try them - woah," he exclaimed, his words stopped short as she knocked over a couple of boxes with a crash.

Almost immediately, he stepped down, placing the wands in his arms on the counter and hurrying over to help her. He noticed the label on the boxes - thanking Merlin that it wasn't wands but just ingredients which had been shipped in."It's okay," he said, bending down to pick them up. When he realized she was helping too, he said, louder, "Jade. It's okay, stop. It's no big deal. I can put them back," he said, picking up more than one at once and putting them back on the counter. Straightening up, he brushed his hands on his jeans.

It was only then that he realized that they were having a semi civil conversation and that he was actually helping her; talking to her like he hadn't treated her too badly to even have her speak to him. "Why don't you go over there by the counter and we can try and find a wand for you, alright?" he asked.